Record-breaking ocean explorer Karlis Bardelis leaves behind legacy of epic journeys
Record-breaking ocean explorer Karlis Bardelis (Latvia) has died at the age of 40, Guinness World Records is saddened to learn.
Karlis, a coordinator of the Ocean Rowing Society International (ORSI), passed away on 17 November. He had been diagnosed with a brain tumour earlier this year.
A spokesperson for ORSI said: “His life was brief, but he lived it with an intensity and fidelity that most people never touch.”
Karlis’s name will certainly live on in the record books.
Alongside Gints Barkovskis (Latvia), Karlis earned the record for first team to row the South Atlantic Ocean in 2016.
The pair rowed an incredible 3,112 nautical miles (5,760 km) from Luderitz, Namibia, to Rio das Ostras, Brazil, in 141 days, 19 hours and 35 minutes between 4 May and 23 September 2016 on board their boat Linda.
In 2020, Karl broke four more records with an epic solo journey across the ocean.
From 14 July 2018 to 29 June 2020, he spent 493 days rowing from Callao, Peru to Pontian, Malaysia on board Linda.
The journey earned him the following records:
- Most days at sea in a single ocean rowing expedition – 493
- Greatest aggregate distance rowed on the Pacific Ocean in one expedition - 11,393 nautical miles (21,010 km; 13,111 miles)
- Greatest aggregate distance rowed on any ocean in a single expedition – as above
- First person to row across the Pacific Ocean from South America to Asia
Karlis then become the first person to row across the Indian Ocean from Asia to Africa in 2022, when he rowed Linda from Kuala Perlis, Malaysia to Baraawe, Somalia.
He covered 3,383 nautical miles (6,265 km; 3,893 mi) over the course of 155 days, 11 hours and 3 minutes.
Born in Latvia, Karlis was a passionate outdoorsman who became one of the most daring human-powered explorers of our time.
He had been an accomplished skier, snowboarder and mountaineer before he turned his attention to the oceans.
Over eight years of expeditions, he rowed and cycled more than 58,000 km as he explored and circumnavigated the world.
ORSI says Karlis faced piracy threats, damage to his boat, delays during the pandemic, and many logistical nightmares during his journeys.
But none of that could outweigh his determination.
The spokesperson added: “In his role as a coordinator for the Ocean Rowing Society International, he brought the same uncompromising honesty and firsthand knowledge to the ocean-rowing community.
“Those around him felt it, the clarity, the stubbornness, the sincerity. He framed his journeys as self-testing, transformation and human-potential exercises. In interviews he said his motivation was internal, ‘When you see a child playing around… it’s just there. Like internal nuclear power.’
“He also engaged in speaking and writing, sharing what life at the extreme taught him about inner resilience and human vulnerability.”
They continued: “Plato wrote that every soul has its own star to which it returns. Those who witnessed Karlis’s life or voyages often described the quiet sight of his boat advancing as a lone point of light in the darkness, moving with that stubborn, steady rhythm that was uniquely his. Now it’s easy to imagine he had been following that star all along, rowing night after night toward something only he was meant to reach.
“Karlis Bardelis lived a life that matched his conviction. He lived what he fully believed in. Few manage that. His passing is a loss for exploration, for ORSI, and for everyone who respects lives shaped by authenticity rather than expectation.
“May he rest where he always rowed, under a single star, and exactly on his own line.”
Karlis regularly wrote about his adventures on his own website Bored of Borders and in July, he released a trailer for his documentary film, Beyond the Deep: Solo Across the Pacific Ocean.